Neurotransmitters are known as comrades who give us a good mood. In principle, this is true, but only partly, because everything is more complicated, and there are different mediators.
And now let's talk about neurotransmitters, which are most often remembered in the context of the use of psychoactive substances. Our heroes are serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine.
Serotonin is often referred to as the "happiness hormone". It kind of makes a person feel happy. But this is an incorrect statement. The main action of serotonin is that it reduces the susceptibility to negative emotions, and not that it provokes the production of positive ones. Serotonin helps control mood, pain, sleep patterns. With depressive disorders, its level in the body decreases, and it is necessary to restore reserves with the help of various drugs.
The same thing - that is, a violation of the normal level of serotonin - occurs if a person experiments with psychoactive substances.
After bursts provoked by the use of psychoactive substances, a decline inevitably follows - and this is the cause of sharp mood swings.
And dopamine is called the “hormone of pleasure”!
Dopamine is the biochemical precursor of norepinephrine and epinephrine. An interesting substance that plays an important role in the "reward system" of the brain. This "reward system" is a tricky structure. The principle of its action is that a person has a feeling of pleasure from something (from what exactly - depends on a particular individual), and this motivates, makes you work to get "candy" again.
Dopamine is produced during sex, eating sweets, pleasant bodily sensations, for someone - from achievements in work, scientific discoveries, and so on. Even memories of pleasant moments raise dopamine levels.
It is with dopamine that the action of most popular psychoactive substances (amphetamine, cocaine) is associated. An excess of dopamine leads to all sorts of mental disorders. The brain works overactively, and this can result in auditory and visual hallucinations, unhealthy arousal, mania and psychosis.
Lack (for example, after taking psychoactive substances) causes depressive disorders.
A norepinephrine that gives us a feeling of pleasant arousal. It is activated in stressful and extreme situations - it is a friend of motorcyclists, surfers and all other lovers of vivid sensations. That's what it's called, by the way - "stress hormone".
It is also produced during gambling, in casinos, while betting on sports, etc. Norepinephrine reduces the feeling of fear, increases the level of aggression and energy, and sexual desire. There is too much of it - a person cannot think critically and analyze sensibly.
These three neurotransmitters are closely associated with feelings of pleasure. They are activated when a person uses psychoactive substances. It is with their lack that various depressive disorders, apathy, and declines in activity are associated.
All information is presented for informational purposes and does not call for action!
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